Anyone live in Leicester? The lockdown there has been extended.

It maybe that multigenerational living is part of the problem in Leicester, but this is exactly how foreign families live, not just Asian. Didn't they establish that this was the reason why northern Italy was so badly affected by CV? Grandparents living in the family, sometimes aunts and uncles etc. The disease will naturally spread more quickly.

That said, the above has nothing to do with wealth. Across the road from our house in London there are 6 adults and 4 children. Whether it is a £million house or terraced property it is the living together under one roof that makes the spread worse. They choose this lifestyle and prefer it to living separately. It works for them, but in the current situation I do think they especially need to be more vigilant and adhere strictly to the lockdown rules.

Peardrop50

Listening to the Leicester mayor and wondering what he is paid for. He was waiting for local statistics from central government and was unaware of local outbreaks. Surely in a time of crisis local councillors would have their fingers on the pulse in their community and report regularly to the mayor, seems he was busy elsewhere.

No, they don't. How could they? They're not being given the data they need to make decisions. They wrote to the government a few weeks asking to be sent data.

So your hairdresser goes to lots of different houses. She can't even sanitizer her surroundings!

That's your idea of a joke?

No wonder there's a problem.

Ellianne

It maybe that multigenerational living is part of the problem in Leicester, but this is exactly how foreign families live, not just Asian. Didn't they establish that this was the reason why northern Italy was so badly affected by CV? Grandparents living in the family, sometimes aunts and uncles etc. The disease will naturally spread more quickly.

That said, the above has nothing to do with wealth. Across the road from our house in London there are 6 adults and 4 children. Whether it is a £million house or terraced property it is the living together under one roof that makes the spread worse. They choose this lifestyle and prefer it to living separately. It works for them, but in the current situation I do think they especially need to be more vigilant and adhere strictly to the lockdown rules.

No, they established no such thing about Italy, although the rumour mongerers on GN were speculating.

How do you explain the high infection rate in Barrow-in-Furness?

Ellianne How can you honestly say that wealth is not a factor? How many people would choose to share a bedsit with other people or not live in a house, where children could at least have their own bedroom and there were a number of bathrooms?

Barrow in Furness has a high population density I believe. I did look it up a while back when a Labour MP said that different parts of the country should be treated differently I think it was regarding schools reopening) but the reply from (I think) Matt Hancock was that they intended to treat the country as a whole. Another u turn methinks ?

tigger

Illte, you're making assumptions and I resent it. I have a mobile hairdresser. We have known each other a long while and are both intelligent and mature people. For instance I am sure we would wear a mask before opening the front door to a neighbour rather than not answer or talk through the window. Don't be surprised if she never speaks to you again and probably coughed as a joke.

There is a difference between stating cultural facts vis racist comments. I live in a part of Leicestershire where I am part of the ethnic MINORITY. In Leicester we have made cultural diversity work, we have had to. Certainly, we have had our problems but we have a lot to offer each other.

Coughed as a joke?!

If that’s what people are considering humor these days, I’ll stay locked up in my house alone.

Also, being a mature intelligent person doesn’t mean you aren’t going to get sick. What a load of rubbish.

I have read through the posts and now I am quivering with rage. Such ignorance and racism.

I have lived in Leicester all my life. I have an Asian husband. I have Asian relatives by marriage, some still living in the affected areas, some further afield. Allow me to correct a few... well, let's be polite and call them misconceptions.

In Leicester, white people are 50% of the population. The next largest ethnic group is Indian, like my husband. The Pakistani community is vanishingly small. You would be hard pushed to locate any Pakistani people, they are so few. I think that the blather about flights from Pakistan is irrelevant.

Nobody knows why it is happening. It could be that BAME people are more susceptible to the virus, for physical reasons that we don't know yet. It could be that, as these tend to be poorer areas, people there might be employed in jobs that put them at risk. The tendancy of people, particularly the older ones, to use small local shops where it is much more difficult to socially distance may be a reason. Some people live in multi-generational households, sometimes for economic reasons, often because there is a tradition of caring for parents and grandparents - but there are not nearly so many now, and the nuclear family is becoming the norm.

Asian people are not stupid. They understand about the virus and the lockdown. Older people may be unable to speak English but most families are now 3rd or 4th generation. Very few people have no-one who can translate for them and tell them what is happening.

Yes, some Asians will have broken lockdown, like some people from every ethnic group. Some will have visited family. Some will have kept working throughout, because they need the money. However, they are less likely to be the ones crowding onto the beach or waiting impatiently for the pubs to open.

One anomaly which no-one seems to mention is that one of the affected areas is Stoneygate, the poshest area of Leicester, full of nice, big houses. Admittedly, it is near one of the Asian areas - presumably people from Pakistan have hurried round to cough on rich people?

Despite the occasional efforts, over the years, of scum like the EDL to cause trouble, Leicester has a proud tradition of racial harmony. I love my diverse city, where you can buy English, Indian, Polish, Afro-Carribean and Chinese food with ease, and see our streets lit up for Diwali, Eid and Christmas. I dread that this outbreak will be used by some to try to drive a wedge between us. We will just have to rely on Leicester people's good common sense.

Oh, and it wasn't a meat packing plant. It was a sandwich factory.

Well said Bluecat I am relatively new to Leicestershire and Leicester but I love the city and its diversity.
There has been so much incorrect and unsubstantiated information on this thread.

So we have established that the spike hasn’t originated from Pakistan and that sandwich factories can become virus hotspots as well as meat packaging plants. But if we don’t discuss these things we won’t learn from these outbreaks. I’m hoping that Dr John Campbell will refer back to the Telegraph article because people that listen to his blogs pass on information.

Thank you Bluecat for that articulate and accurate explanation.
You touched on my very point that Asian families, and many other foreign families, live together so they can look after their elders. It's traditional and I admire it.

What you failed to grasp growstuff was that I too was talking about a multigenerational Asian family who could easily have spent £350k three times over to live in separate houses, but chose to remain together. Sometimes wealth is not a factor.

Good post, Bluecat.

I saw today in the 'Times' the report about Leicester alongside a photo of a park where men were playing cricket, with crowds of onlookers, and no social distancing. If this is representative of what is going on then it's hardly surprising. It can't be much longer before there are other spikes following the selfish and silly gatherings that seem to have sprung up in other parts of the country over the last ten days or so. I do wondder what part of 40,000 plus deaths these people are not quite grasping.

I haven’t looked at today’s Times but that is wrong, especially as people are doing that all over the country. I sometimes feel that those of us that still realise there’s a pandemic going on are now existing in a different dimension to those who think it’s all over.

It sounds like a 'perfect storm'.

Yes, flights have resumed from Pakistan from 29th May and people would have been eager to get home again wherever they live. Until then there were no flights in or out.
I would want to get home if I'd been stuck abroad - wouldn't you? Pakistan has a spike in cases.
No-one is tested or quarantined when arriving
Schools have returned
People everywhere in the country broke the lockdown
There was an outbreak in a food factory.
BAME people are, for whatever reason, more susceptible to succumb to the virus.

No-one is criticising Leicester or Leicester people, just trying to work out why, bluecat.

On the BBC news last night the mayor of Leicester mentioned that the language issue might have contributed to the problems in his city.

I do wish we didn’t have to endure the inevitable rants and accusations of ‘racism’ whenever topics like this are being discussed.

We seem to be heading to a situation where any racial aspect of any given situation becomes the elephant in the room which is completely ridiculous.

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Well said Bluecat.

growstuff
if you look at places here and other countries, that have a high number of positive covid-19 cases, they tend to have a high density of the population living in areas, on a low income with high unemployment, and the population suffer from multiple co-morbitities. This is not always the case but could explain why Barrow has been hard hit.
This is a very complex virus which the world is still learning about.
Having been born and bred in Leicester, I love the diversity of my city and which has welcomed and embrassed other people from far and wide.

Nobody needed to tell the mayor there was an increase in the number of cases when it was reported in the Leicester Mercury weeks ago, that schools were being closed within a week of reopening due to staff and pupils testing positive to covid-19. Saying that he was probably too busy breaking the lock down visiting his lady friend on the other side of the city from where he lives.

Sources have told the Mirror meat processing plants and gatherings around takeaways have come under the spotlight as a possible source of the outbreak.

And Labour’s Leicester MP Jon Ashworth pinpointed high poverty and a large BAME population who are at greater risk.

I hadn't realised there were no flights in and out of Pakistan prior till late May. We spoke to someone at a BT call centre who said his wife was stuck in Thailand and couldn't get home. It's so important that we learn from these spikes as they're going to be with us for a long time and just locking down isn't going to solve anything. Every little last detail must be explored.

Yes, we could have been stuck overseas for months too (and no travel insurance) but did decide not to risk going.

It is racist when the blame for the outbreak in Leicester is laid at the door of a community that barely exists and has not had any cases in the outbreak. Or to say it has come from arrivees from Pakistan when you don't even know if anyone has come from Pakistan to Leicester.

There is nothing to link that community to the outbreak so why are people pointing the finger.

Because they're racists - simple as that!

It's especially ignorant because the areas of Leicester which have been most affected have a predominantly Indian-heritage population. I can't imagine that many British Indians would visit Pakistan that often, but I suppose they're all foreigners

They've got to blame somebody, even if it's far more likely that the 30 infected people from Pakistan probably flew into Heathrow.

Because it needed to be eliminated as a cause. Which it has been. But you can't not look at possible causes because it might upset some people. Would it be racist if, say, Canada was a virus hotspot and I queried the arrival of people from Canada? You're the one that's assuming there is a racist motive behind the question. It might be used in a racist way by some sections of the population and, if it is that is unacceptable and I'll be the first person to condemn it. I, too love Leicester. It's multiculturalism at it's best and is a shining example to the rest of the country/world.